By Dominique Vidalon
PARIS (Reuters) – France said it was ready to host Britain’s King Charles on a state visit from Sunday despite unrest over changes to the pension system erupting into violence in Paris and other cities across the country.
Black-clad anarchists fought street battles with police for several hours in the French capital on Thursday, ransacking a McDonald’s restaurant, smashing up bus shelters and setting alight mounds of garbage that have piled up during strikes.
In Bordeaux, at the heart of one of France’s best-known wine growing areas and where King Charles is also expected to visit, protesters set alight the entrance to the city hall.
Trade unions have said they will not let up in their struggle to force President Emmanuel Macron into a u-turn on raising the retirement age by two years to 64. The next day of nationwide street protests is planned for Tuesday – during King Charles’ visit.
“We are extremely focused. We are ready to welcome him in excellent conditions,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNews TV.
A Buckingham Palace source said the protests could impact the logistics of the visit, Charles’ first since becoming monarch.
Asked if the king’s visit was still going ahead, the Elysee Palace said to await Macron’s news conference following a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels.
Macron had hoped King Charles’s visit would mark a symbolic step in the two countries’ efforts to turn a page after years of poor relations in the post-Brexit era.
Instead, the visit, if it goes ahead, risks turning into a huge embarrassment.
The royal visit includes events at the Musee d’Orsay art gallery and Arc de Triomphe monument, as well as a state banquet, before the king travels to Bordeaux by train.
The French Presidency has said the schedule was still being finalised. Darmanin told CNews: “The trip will not change. The planned steps of the visit are not being questioned.”
The minister assured the King would be safe during his visit, with 4,000 police set to be deployed. But he did not rule out “that there could be, here and there, a desire by some to highlight radical environmental claims or objections to the against pension reform.”
Bordeaux Mayor Pierre Hurmic said cancelling the King’s visit to Bordeaux would only spur the anarchists on.
“Cancel King Charles’s visit to Bordeaux? I do not wish to make that gift to rioters,” he said.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Angus MacSwan)
